Button Boards
by Laughing Still
Summary: Tenten had to admit, of all the things on her bucket list, getting trapped in an elevator with Hyuuga-san was not on there. NejiTen. AU.


_Button Boards_

 _By_

 _Dreaming Again_

Disclamer: I do not own Naruto, wish I did but I don't.

Tenten could not believe her luck. Here she was stuck in the elevator caught in between the 13th and 14th floors—not alone—oh no, that would have been too simple—but with that jerk Hyuuga Neji from Marketing. Some higher being hated her.

" _Well?!"_

"Well what?" She snapped back.

His entire body stiffened and she distinctly heard a prayer for patience escape his lips. "I _asked_ you what you believe we should do Tenten-san, but _clearly_ you were not _listening._ "

She forced herself not to smack him with her purse. Why hadn't she listened to her inner goth and bought the one with all the metal studs and chains? It would have been so useful right now.

" _Tenten-san!"_

" _What?!_ I don't know, OK? The emergency phone doesn't work, and neither do our cell phones. I can't think of anything else to try and _you're_ the rumored genius, _you_ figure it out."

He glared at her and then away, choosing to glare at the wall instead. She followed suite and they settled into a moody silence.

What had she done to deserve this? All she had wanted was to go home, have a nice, relaxing shower, followed by a quiet evening with her cat. But _no_ , she had to get locked in an elevator with the worst person possible, the perpetually petulant Hyuuga Neji. _Wonderful._

"…sharp in your purse?"

Her pity party was abruptly ended by the Hyuuga's grating voice.

"What?" She asked again.

This time, she heard him grinding his molars. "Do you have anything sharp in your purse, Tenten-san?"

His tone was so frigid that she felt the temperature in the confined area drop about 20 degrees.

"Why, found an Irish pennant on that immaculate suit?"

She swore she heard his blood boil.

"No, indeed. I was going to pry the elevator panel off if you _must_ know."

She glanced to his right. "What, the button board?"

He closed his eye and drew a deep breath. "Yes, Tenten-san, if you will insist on being so childish, the button board."

She stiffened at the 'childish' comment and it was on the tip of her tongue to say that no, she had left her K-bar at home today and security had swiped her nail file (which they would do in a heartbeat, by the way) so she was so sorry, but he was just going to have to sit there and contemplate his mortality a while longer. She wanted to get out of this thing alive however, and she wasn't sure that remark would help her achieve that goal. So, swallowing this snappy retort, she took her purse off her shoulder, unzipped it and began grubbing through it. Sunglasses, wallet, loose change, lipstick case, several receipts, 4 mints, plastic nail file, nail clipper—Hyuuga was tapping he food now—6 used tissues, a wad of fresh ones, needle—ouch—, and—what was her Mary Kay eye shadow doing in here?

"Well, the closest thing I have to a pry bar is this—" She held up the plastic nail file, which looked wimpy even to her.

"That'll snap."

She rolled her eyes. "Thank you Captain Obvious."

He stiffened again but didn't respond.

"How bout you? You have anything?"

He just looked at her. "I'm in _marketing_ Tenten-san, not _maintenance._ "

Oh _that_ was helpful. Looked like it was up to her to get them both out of here. She looked at the panel again, thinking. Useless as the Hyuuga was, he did have a point. If they could get that panel off, it was a pretty good bet they could find the wire to open the doors and attempt to get out of here. Worst case scenario, they opened the doors, couldn't get out and had to wait till morning for someone to find them. Her stomach turned over at the thought of spending the night with _this_ man but at least they would have fresh air, something they were rapidly running out of. She looked back down at her purse. The nail file would snap, they both knew that, but maybe….

Opening her Mary Kay eye shadow, she dumped the contents into her purse, ignored the fact she would _really_ regret that later, and snapped it in half at the hinges. Ignoring the Hyuuga (who was looking at her like she was crazy), she stepped past him and wedged the two sides in between the upper half of the panel. Her heart sank slightly when she saw the screws but she rallied at once. They were small and the power of brute force was amazing. That being said, she dug more firmly under the panel and rammed down on the eye shadow case. There was the toe curling sound of nails on a blackboard and then a _pow!_ As one of the screws gave.

"Yes!" she muttered to herself, elated with her success. She moved onto the other side and within a minute, all four screws had popped. She removed the decorative cover and set it aside, straightening again to be greeted with a mass of wires every color of the rainbow.

She exhaled. "OK…"

"Move aside, Tenten-san. This is where I take over."

She bristled at his bossy tone but stepped aside, figuring it wouldn't hurt to let him try. He would probably take one look at those wires and turn blithering idiot on her. Not that he wasn't already…

She was wrong however. He took one look at the mess before him and set to work, a look of calm determination on his face. He was one of those men who muttered to himself while he worked and Tenten found it oddly comforting, at least she knew what he was doing.

"This goes to the security cameras, no need for that. Music, pull that off. That's power…it looks fine. Well, this explains why the phone doesn't work. Damn mice." He trailed off, still sorting wires.

Tenten estimated three minutes pass before he spoke again, and this time, it was to her.

"Tenten-san, get me something sharp."

He missed the glare she threw him. She thought they had covered this topic…

She sighed and looked up. She knew what he wanted, but she had already told him she had no cutting apparatus.

She blinked. Wait a second, why was she staring at a light? Had she really lost that much of her common sense since she had entered this cursed metal rectangle? Wait—the lights were made of glass. This one was covered but even better, she could tell plastic from glass and she was willing to bet that covering wasn't the former.

"Hey, can I borrow your jacket a minute?" she asked.

He nodded impatiently, still absorbed in his wires. She picked up the discarded item from the floor and proceeded to wrap as much of it as possible around her right hand, which she had made into a fist, and arm. Once she was satisfied, she positioned herself under the light, raised her arm, closed her eyes and jumped up. Her fist hit the cover and there was the unmistakable sound of breaking glass.

The Hyuuga cursed, whipping around and Tenten opened her eyes, dropping the jacket.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" he demanded, furious.

She was taken aback. "What? You said you needed something sharp so I—"

"Don't move." He ordered suddenly.

She froze instantly. He walked forward, stopping only when he was a foot away from her.

"Close your eyes."

Her heart, already hammering, missed a beat. " _What?!"_

"Just do it!"

"No!"

"Why not? Don't you trust me?"

"In a word, no."

He actually smirked at that. "Good. You shouldn't."

She stared at him, completely thrown.

"Now close your eyes."

Throwing him one last look that promised him death if anything happened, she obeyed.

For a second, nothing happened. Then she felt something incredibly soft touch her forehead and began brushing it. It continued downward, dusting her eyelids, cheeks, and nose till it reached her chin and stopped.

"There. You can open them now."

She did so and unconsciously took a step backward, recreating her 18 inch personal bubble.

"You had glass on your face."

"Oh, well. Thank you." She fumbled, her annoyance deserting her most shamefully.

The moment vanished as the Hyuuga stooped and picked up a piece of his glass, working on his wires again.

"This should open the doors." He informed her, cutting a yellow wire.

"Good." She replied, picking up her purse. "Cause I am so out of—"

The lights flickered once, twice, and then died completely, plunging the two of them into total darkness.

For a second, Tenten was too stunned to speak. Then—

"Hyuuga. What did you do?"

There was no answer.

"You killed the lights, didn't you?"

"I attempted to open the doors."

"You killed the lights!" She screeched, all feelings for him more fuzzy than pure hated evaporating. Tenten could handle most things, but this was over the top.

"What are those glowing things?" He asked suddenly.

Tenten froze again and saw immediately what he was talking about. Her heart missed a beat as she saw where they were. Five of them were on either of her arms, just above her elbows. She twitched her finger and one moved.

"Wait a second. A-are those your _fingernails?!"_

She opened her mouth to point out the absurdity of this idea and realization hit her—they _were_ her fingernails.

 _SNAP!_

"You wear glow-in-the-dark nail polish?!"

"You killed the lights!"

"How childish _are_ you?!"

"You're supposed to be a genius!"

"Tell me, did you paint your office with rainbows and fluffy bunnies as well?!"

"My office is a very nondescript sterile white thank you very much! What about you?! You're as brilliant as Einstein and you cut the wrong wire!"

"You've stated that."

"And it's still true!"

"Tenten-san." He said in a deathly calm voice, and Tenten knew she had crossed a line. "Nearly everything you have said is true. I did indeed 'kill the lights' as you put it, and it is not secret that I _am_ a genius. However, even geniuses make mistakes someti—"

There was a sudden 'whoosh' and Tenten jumped as a blast of cold air hit her.

The doors had opened.

She could literally feel him change gears and girt her teeth as she heard the satisfied smirk in his voice.

"Happily, this is not one of those times and you are still in the wrong. Shall we continue our escape?"

 _Lead the way, jerk._ She thought savagely. Aloud she replied. "Yes. I'd like to get home tonight."

"No more than I, Tenten-san. I assure you."

He walked to the edge and she followed, looking out into the very dimly lit shaft. Hollywood had a way of romanticizing everything and elevator shafts were not exception. In a movie, there would be loose chains, multiple beams and a good 10 feet of space in any direction. In real life however, there was the elevator itself and a wall of cement in front of them.

"Well, this is reassuring." He commented.

"What." She inquired. "Is reassuring about a cement wall and no possible escape?"

"The fact that you're wrong again."

She glared at him and he ignored it.

"There is an escape, Tenten-san, it will just take a little agility and some courage. Follow me." And with that, the second stage of their escape began.

"Tenten-san, may I request you get me my jacket?"

She nodded and turned back to where she had dropped it. Figuring she should be nice, she brushed the glass off it and slung it over her shoulder. Glancing around again, she picked up the largest glass shard she could find and put it in her pocket. Knowing the Hyuuga, he would want "something sharp" in a second.

Speaking of the Hyuuga, it was awfully quiet in here. She turned around and stopped breathing. The Hyuuga was gone.

"Hyuuga?! She called, dashing to the edge of the door and looking down.

"Wrong direction, Tenten-san."

She nearly fell out of the elevator. Steadying herself, she looked up and found the Hyuuga smirking down at her.

"Wha—How?" she stammered.

The smirk widened. "I'm a genius, Tenten-san."

She felt her cheeks turn pink. He enjoyed his triumph a moment longer then got back to business.

"Now, if you'll kindly turn around and jump up, I'll try my hardest not to let you die."

"I appreciate that." She retorted, rolling her eyes. "Though we both know you'll probably miss on purpose. Catch." She chucked her purse up to him and heard it hit the top of the elevator.

"You judge me, Tenten-san. I never throw anything useful away, and you might prove to be so yet."

She sent him a half hearted glare and jumped. He caught her hands and she scrambled awkwardly up, thanking her last lucky star that she had worn a long skirt today.

"Now what?" She asked once she was safely on top.

"We jump again." He said, pointing to the elevator entrance above them.

"But that has to be 8 or 9 feet." She said, looking up. "We can't jump that high."

He gave her another one of his looks. "You can't jump 24 inches? All you need to do is reach the edge with your hands, then pull yourself up, Tenten-san."

She felt her face grow hot again and proceeded to prove him wrong. Recalling her old gymnastics training and uttering a desperate prayer, she jumped. Her fingers it the ledge and locked on while her left foot miraculously found a crevice to stand on. Begging God not to desert her now, she scampered up, wobbling dangerously for a few seconds but not falling. After making sure that she had a firm grip on the wall, she turned to face the Hyuuga.

"Impressive, Tenten-san, but hardly graceful."

"But notice who's once step closer to escaping." She responded, letting his comment roll off her back.

"Not for long."

And before she even knew what was happening, he had thrown her purse up and was standing beside her. It took everything in her to keep her jaw from dropping.

"Now things might get a little more complex." he said, looking at the very solid steel doors now facing them. "Tell me Tenten-san, do you have something…"

 _Here we go,_ she though, mentally rolling her eyes and pulling out the glass shard.

"magnetic?"

She blinked. "What?"

"Magnetic, Tenten-san. Not sharp."

Didn't this man carry anything useful on him?!

Shoving that though away, she scanned her memory. She didn't think there was anything but—there was a sudden pain in her hand and pulling it out of her pocket, saw that her Mary Kay case had cut her. Cursing it, she was about to chuck it when she stopped. That's right, the bottom piece _was_ magnetic.

"Actually, I just realized I can't use that." he said suddenly

"Why not?"

"Because the doors open by an electric signal, not magnetic."

"So?"

He sighed impatiently, "So unless someone lets us out of here, we really are stuck. Damn, I hoped this wouldn't happen."

Tenten felt disappointment rise inside her, "But we _have_ to get out, there has to be a way."

"There is. Unfortunately, we are not anywhere near it." He replied shortly, glaring into space.

"There has to be something in here." She said, looking around, "Another button board or something."

The glare fell on her. "Button board? This shaft is made of solid concrete, Tenten-san and in case you haven't notice, conspicuously lacking in _button boards."_ He spat the last two words.

She went red again and opened her mouth to retort when the elevator doors suddenly slid open and the pair of them fell ungracefully into the hallway,

"Ow." Was all Tenten said as she got up. She turned to ask the jerk if he was OK when she saw the elevator doors closing. Shrieking, she threw herself toward them but too late—she and her purse were separated by a foot of metal. She instantly began pounding on the down button, desperate to get the doors open.

"Come on." She begged it. "Please open. Please open. Please open—OPEN UP!"

"Once will do it, you know."

She jumped and spun around to find the Hyuuga looking at her with his arms crossed.

She decided not to respond and turned around again. The doors still hadn't opened and she noticed for all the times she had pushed the button, it wasn't lit.

She pushed it again.

Nothing.

Again.

"Oh, great. You broke it." The Hyuuga walked up beside her, now noticing her predicament.

"I did not! It-just-won't-light-up!" she said, punching it with every word.

He rolled his eyes. "Because you broke it. Try the other one. The elevators doors can only be opened this way so the person who let us out used one of the two. Push it gently!" he added, seeing her finger move up.

Biting her tongue, she obeyed, hoping against hope and praying to every deity she knew.

"Damn Isis." She said when a minute passed and nothing happened. She turned to ask her fellow escapee if she could start hammering on it now when she caught his expression and froze.

"What?" She asked warily, noticing the darkened look and not liking it.

He started and looked at her. "I'll tell you later. For now though, let's get out of here. Do you have any other way you can get home?"

She nodded silently, though her inner self was screaming that it would take some ingenuity to achieve it. She ignored it. Hyuuga had suddenly gone on high alert and she didn't need to add to his problems.

"Good. Follow me."

They walked to the end of the floor and took the back stairs until they exited the building. They Hyuuga didn't speak the entire time and Tenten was too scared to break the silence.

It was only when they were halfway across the parking lot and a good 50 yards from the building that he spoke again.

"I apologize if I upset you back there, Tenten-san."

Dumbstruck, Tenten nodded mutely.

"The truth is, is that I find the entire episode too suspicious to be a mere accident."

 _That_ got her attention.

"How so?"

"Before I answer that, I must ask you how you are going to get home."

"Oh, well, I'll take the train. It's only about a three minute walk from my house from there. I'll be fine."

He nodded "I'll walk you to the station."

Not quite so stunned, she nodded and they set off.

He resumed his previous topic.

"First of all Tenten-san, there is the setting. Uchiha Inc. is just two years old and this building less than half that age. Uchiha-sama hired the top architects and construction workers in the country to make that building behind us and 9 months later, an elevator breaks. Now granted, it breaks in the most convenient spot, which is also suspicious. Uchiha Inc. has exactly 26 floors and the lower half, as you know, is dedicated to military contracts and the upper half to intelligence programs, the greater portion of which are classified. Ironically enough, the shortest physical distance between floors is between the 13th and 14th floors. It is also where the elevators change sensors. You see, on the first half, the sensors are optical, meaning they physically see the elevator line up with the doors. On the 14th floor and above, however, it changes to electrical. Uchiha-sama did this because, theoretically, the optical sensors would be easier to fool. All one would have to do is rip the correct piece out of the elevator and hold it up to the sensor and the doors would open. Electrical, on the other hand, as we found, is nearly impossible to fool and much harder to sabotage, hence the reason he used it. So if one were to trap someone in the elevator, where we were would be the perfect spot, as death is nearly guaranteed if one goes down and it is almost impossible to get out from above. The person, is therefore, effectively trapped. Secondly, there is the time. Every half-sane being left hours ago, leaving only the workaholics for a possible intruder to deal with."

"So you thing someone is trying to break into Uchiha Inc. then?" Tenten asked, alarmed at the possibility.

They mounted the station and Tenten bought her ticket.

"Possibly, thought it's doubtful. Uchiha Inc. is too new for a break in."

"A saboteur, then?"

"Why take the risk?"

"True." She said, looking at the track. "But then we're back to square one—how did the elevator stop and since you said someone had to stop it, who did it?"

He didn't respond and silence fell between them. Tenten didn't mind though and only broke it when she saw the train rounding the bend.

"Well, thanks for walking here with me." She said, the statement coming out only slightly awkwardly.

"Not at all. It's just part of the rescuing the damsel in distress."

Tenten froze mid-step and turned back to him. "Excuse me, I was not distressed and if anything, _I_ rescued us."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I pulled the panel off the button board."

"Then proceeded to look at the wires and become utterly useless while I took the initiative and cut them."

"Using the "something sharp" _I_ found for you!"

"Getting covered in glass shards in the process and adding to the hazardous conditions as well as wasting time."

"Wasting time?! What about the whole jacket stunt?! You just disappeared on me! _And_ before that you killed the lights with your careless slashing! How bout that for 'hazardous conditions' huh?!"

"I was attempting to open the doors and you'll notice it worked as you are now standing in a dark train station instead of an elevator."

"Then you thoughtlessly disappeared on me!"

"I completed the next logical step in the rescue."

"It was an escape!"

"We obviously couldn't go down, so the only choice was going up. If I succeeded, I could help you up, if not, you would know to stay put."

"Cause you being dead would have been a huge help to me." She rolled her eyes. "How would you tell me to 'stay put' if you were dead, huh, Stephen Hawking?!"

"After helping you, I successfully got us out of the elevator shaft."

" _I_ was the one who climbed up to those first, buster. Don't forget that!"

"On the sole reason that I essentially dared you."

"I found your magnetic thing!"

"Which proved to be worthless. I opened the doors."

"You did not! They opened from the outside! You said so yourself!"

"Maybe I was lying." He smirked.

Her temper failed her just then and she could only shoot him death glares as the train pulled into the station.

"Well," he said as it hissed to a stop and the doors opened. "Have a good night, Tenten-san."

"Good night, Hyuuga-san." She replied, forgiving him just enough to give him a formal bow. She boarded the train and a second later, the doors shut and it left the station.

As Neji watched the train depart, he reflected how wise it had been to tell her his suspicions. It probably had not been the smartest thing he had ever done but he had needed an excuse for his displeased expression. Besides, it wasn't like he had lied to her, quite the contrary actually. Everything he had told her was the truth, just not all of it. He had told her that both the setting and time were perfect for an 'accident' to happen, but there was a third reason, and in his mind, the most important of all: the people.

To the average passerby, he and Tenten-san were coworkers and their relationship ended there. What many people, including Tenten-san herself, did not know was that each of their best friends were dangerously close to one another. To be more specific, married or engaged to each other. That was correct, his three best friends, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Nara Shikamaru, were married/ engaged to _her_ three best friends, Uzumaki Hinata (formerly Hyuuga, his cousin), Uchiha formerly Haruno Sakura, and Yamanaka Ino. That being said, one can instantly see how the next thought was conceived.

"Why! Tenten and Neji should get together! It would be _sooooooo_ romantic!" (quoted by Uchiha Sakura, at her Christmas party)

Neji had only to look at her to know those were her thoughts. Stifling a groan, he had hastily excused himself before she could plan and execute anything. For nearly six months, he had been successful and seen no more of Tenten-san then fractional glimpses at work. Tonight however, he hadn't been so lucky and gotten caught in exactly the situation he wanted to avoid.

No, there was no saboteur at Uchiha Inc. There was just someone trying to sabotage his confirmed bachelorhood.

As Neji walked out of the station, a pair of pitch black eyes watched him calmly. They waited until he had gone and then fell to the cell phone in the stranger's hand. He hit a speed dial and brought it to his ear, his hair ruffled by the slight breeze.

 _Rin—_

"Oh Sasuke! Finally! I was wondering! Well?! Did it work?! Did they confess their undying love for each other?! Do we have a wedding date?! Am I a bridesmaid?! Can I go get a gift?!"

"Sakura." He said, interrupting his wife's excited interrogation. "I hate to say this, but they're on to you."

 _Fin 6/28/10 19:16:40_


End file.
